Random Stuff

A) I've been thinking. There are not enough animals on TV. Someone should create a show about them. Like...can we have a show set in a vet's office? Please? It can even be like ER/Grey's Anatomy, where the doctors' complicated personal relationships get 50-60% of the screen time, but wouldn't it be nice if we could have animals on a regular basis?

Hey. We could exploit that temporary popularity surrounding "Seabiscuit" (yeah, I know it was a while ago...) and set one at a racing stable. I don't particularly like horse racing, because it's all about rich people and gambling and no one really cares about the animals, but at least I'd get to see horses. What? It would be way better than the O.C.

B) "Standoff."I really wasn't going to watch it. I wasn't! Everything about the characters struck me as...well, they all somehow projected this air of being fake, plastic rip-offs of other characters on other shows. The guy - a clean-shaven Tim Speedle (CSIM). The girl - a smaller, even shriller Allison Cameron (House). The boss-lady - that woman who annoyed me on "Bones". The head of the sniper unit - I haven't decided yet, but he's not original.

I did tape it, because nothing else was on at 8 and I figured I might have a TV craving within a day or two and need as much drama as possible. I almost erased it to make sure I had enough space to catch the daytime episodes of ER, but I decided against it, because I had a spare tape. And then today (yup, cravings hit) I watched it.

As for the show itself, well, it kind of feels like you saw every main highlight from the previews? Plus I caught the last five minutes (when trying to decide whether or not to erase it), so really the episode was like a connect-the-dots game. Knew what was going to happen, the only surprises were how people got from here to there, and exact quotes.

That being said, it was...oddly likable. I will learn names as they sink into my perma-conciousness, but for now, "the guy" is a lot funnier than he seems from the previews. I mean, I've been assuming he was just a total idiot from that whole "I'm-sleeping-with-my-partner" quote, but I find myself on his side. (I'd never have guessed from the previews, but they just might have chemistry) Plus he's sort of cute, as Speed always suffered from that unfortunate unshaven look. And in spite of my best efforts, I think the girl has a spunky, doesn't-take-crap sort of attitude, and I like her TOO. I think my favorite scene was the one in which one of the snide sniper-team guys tells him should "keep that bitch in line," and his response is attempted murder. (with a paint gun, but still)

I don't know. I don't want to fall in love with it, because a couple of places have pegged it as the show most likely to get canceled first, plus even if it doesn't, when the January shuffle comes up and everyone bows to American Idol, whatever timeslot it gets kicked to, I probably won't be able to follow.

C) HOUSE SEASON PREMIEREHouse: "I don't remember you being this bitchy."Wilson: "The Vicodin dulled it. In the sober light of day, I'm a buzzkill."Oh, Wilson, I love you. This was a fun episode after all! No, seriously, it was fun. Number of ew-gross-look-away moments added up to 3 or 4, 2 of which were provided by House himself (because...miles of running produce nasty results). But I really liked him running to Cuddy in the middle of the night because he suddenly had a brilliant diagnosis/plan. The best part of the episode. The most annoying part? The patient of the week is supposed to be in Miami two nights from now being Ray Jr. (incarnation #3) Which is a shame, because Carter Jenkins is actually kinda cute, with that curly hair, and even though his role in this episode turned out to be miniscule and almost without lines, I thought he was really expressive. And now I'm kind of wishing he'd played Ray Jr. all along. I never really liked that kid from seasons 2 & 3. No child of Yelina's could be that bland. Oops, wait, this is House's section.

I greatly enjoyed Cameron's semi-refusal of House, mostly because I think he is probably right when he says that she was only attracted to him because he was a sick puppy she could nurse back to health, or something like that. (I'm positive I heard the word "puppy"). Anyway. I know that's why I loved House. My favorite part here, by far, was when House went to Wilson's office and confessed that his leg hurt. I'm not sure which of the two to believe...Wilson's explanation was more logical (he's middle-aged and has been running around like a teenager), but I'm tempted to feel bad for House. Hugh Laurie is so very good with measured emotion, the subtle tones of fear and uncertainty.

D) BonesWhat kind of newfound Bones fan am I if I can't even remember that it's on? Ack, I meant to put all the shows in my planner, but I forgot it in class yesterday. I was running on no sleep, and was so exhausted that I just crashed at 6:45 PM. I was running through the shows in my head, "anything on tonight? Don't care about Lost...anything? Anything at all? 7, no, 8, no, 9 I think is CSI: NY, isn't 'Heroes" airing soon? Okay." So I set the tape for that. What I caught instead was something stupid with Katie fricking Couric and 9/11. Arrrggh.

Tonight: Till Death gets its one trial episode because it is smart enough to jump the Survivor season premiere. If I really love it, then I will watch that on Thursdays and go online for Survivor. What happened to my plan to Not watch new shows, *especially* on Fox!?